Weekly Reflection 1

I had a great time this week at the hospital. I learned all about the computer systems at the hospital. I learned about the frustrations with those computer systems as well. There are two and the patients and schedules have to be entered into both. This makes the patient care coordinators annoyed at times. I also learned all about the general surgery section of the hospital. In order to schedule patients, the patient care coordinators have to correspond with the workers at the OR and whatever else they need such as pathology, radiology, nuclear technicians, x-rays, or almost any other part of the hospital that the patient needs. This is frustrating because when Peggy (patient care coordinator) is asked to schedule a sentinel node biopsy it is difficult because this involves all of the above except x-ray. It gets worse because the nuclear technician comes on Mondays and both general surgeons, Dr. Bears and Dr. Eberly, have operations all day. I also learned how to make charts and how the exam rooms are organized.
When planning my project, I was very excited because I was going to be able to go into patient’s rooms and surgeries but near the beginning of my project I was told that that was not the case. So, I am only allowed to stay in the administrative sections of the general surgery area. However, I really liked being with the patient care coordinators. They taught me about everything they do. Near the end of the week, I started helping Annette enter information into the computer, entering recalls into a spreadsheet, making charts, and sending letters to patients. I didn’t really know what I was expecting going into the week because of the abrupt change of plans but everything worked out for the best. I benefited from the week because even though I did not get to see the real life of a surgeon, I spent all day in the general surgery area and know about everyone’s jobs in that section of the hospital. This will help me decide if I really want to go pre-med or not. I am excited for what this week has to offer.